Sony Ericsson is coming out this summer with a new line of camera phones, called Cyber-shots, that will include a 3.2 megapixel model. That's a lot of pixels, in the land of 2.1 megapixel camera phones.

A friend of mine who is a professional film photographer recently shot a kids’ party. After she took the first photo, the kids crowded around her to look for their faces on the back of the camera.

“Sorry, kids,” she had to say. “It’s not that kind of camera.”

Our expectations of what cameras are sure has changed.

As spring nears, here’s what’s blooming in the field of digital cameras:

HEAD-TO-HEAD CONTEST WINNERS

The Digital Imaging Marketing Association picked three top point-and-shoot cameras in its 10th annual Digital Shoot-out. The competition, held amid the recent Photo Marketing Association’s convention in Orlando, pitted 17 cameras from seven manufacturers against one another. A photographer used the cameras to shoot a model in a studio, and four journalist-judges looked for color accuracy and quality of the print. The winners:

JVC is coming out with a DVD burner for three of the company’s Everio camcorders. The DVD burner, called the Share Station, connects by USB cable to the new Everio GZMG27, GZ-MG37 and GZ-MG77 cameras, and turns home video into DVDs without using a computer.

The Share Station works with DVD-R/-RW disks, and you can use it as a DVD burner for your computer running Windows XP or Windows 2000 (with Service Pack 4).

Share Station, $200, available in April, JVC.com.

READY FOR YOUR EBAY CLOSEUP?

Casio’s new EX-Z60 Exilim Zoom camera has an eBay Easy Shot mode that takes photos at a size optimized for displaying on eBay.

EX-Z60, available mid-April, $250, Casio.com.

SONY ERICSSON ANNOUNCES A 3.2 MEGAPIXEL PHONE

Sony Ericsson is coming out this summer with a new line of camera phones, called Cyber-shots, that will include a 3.2 megapixel model. That’s a lot of pixels, in the land of 2.1 megapixel camera phones.

The phone will capture video, play MP3 music files and 3-D video games, and work with UMTS and EDGE phone networks.

K800 and K790 Cyber-shot camera phones, prices to be announced, available soon, SonyEricsson.com.

As Amazon and Google work to place their smart speakers at the center of the internet-connected home, both technology giants are expanding the amount of data they gather about customers who use their voice software to control other gadgets.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is asking the chief executives of Apple and Google to immediately stop offering a Saudi e-government app that allows men in Saudi Arabia to track and control the movement of women.